Interpreting Precolumbian Mobility in Eastern Honduras Using Strontium and Oxygen Isotope Assignment Models

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Eastern Honduras was and is a culturally diverse region on the southern periphery of Mesoamerica. Limited research has been conducted in this region, especially when compared to the Maya in western Honduras. We present isotopic data from individuals interred at two sites, Cueva del Río Talgua and Cueva de las Arañas, which were primarily used during the Middle Formative Period. 87Sr/86Sr and δ18O phosphate isotope values are used to reconstruct Pre-Columbian mobility in eastern Honduras, which assist in interpretations of sociocultural and political organization, kinship alliances, and settlement patterns. Circum-Caribbean isoscapes are used to assign the 87Sr/86Sr and δ18O results from 37 individuals interred at the caves. The 87Sr/86Sr data suggest that many of the individuals originated from nearby communities, correlating to geological isotope signatures from the Talgua and Jamasquire Village sites. One individual has been identified as a “nonlocal” from both the quantitative assignment models and experimental techniques. Overall, the biogeochemistry data suggest residential mobility within the Olancho Valley and possible evidence of kinship interactions within the surrounding communities.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts   •
• Society for American Archaeology 88th Annual Meeting, Portland, OR (2023)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 37689.0